2006 April 24 to 30

2006-04-24 Monday

Keystone, SD                  Battle Creek CG

We woke up to falling snow, with 3 inches already on the ground at 07:00. The Electric Heater kept the rig's temperature reasonable overnight. Did not look like a good day for sightseeing, so right back to bed for awhile.

Got up at 9:00 and checked around outside. CG water is still running.

At 13:00 cleaned snow off Van and drove downtown to Library. Checked email and had a nice talk with the Librarian Lady. She told me that in Winter there may be even less than 311 people in town, as almost everything is closed.

Back to CG and more web work. Finally got a good Verizon Signal and can get online. The  CG WiFi is NOT online as promised.

Total snow accumulation over 5 inches, highest temperature today 36. No sunshine, pretty depressing. We are so spoiled. In Germany in April, sometimes you would not see the sun for two weeks or more, and here I am "kvetching" about a day or two.

2006-04-25 Tuesday                   (click for Black Hill Picture Gallery)

Keystone, SD                       Battle Creek CG

It was bitter cold last night and the CG water supply froze. Used the internal fresh water tank as supply till the CG supply unfroze at about 13:00.

The Internet connection of the CGs WiFi is finally up. Good strong signal, about 1 Mbps down, 0.4 Mbps up. FREE.

With the sun shining our spirits were revived enough to finally (Elaine had been wanting to go there for awhile) take the drive to Deadwood and Lead. Beautiful, empty US 385 took us there in less than an hour.

The northern part of the Black Hills had gotten so much more snow (up to seven feet), evidenced by the large and dirty piles of snow still dwarfing some houses in "downtown" Lead. And BTW, the natives pronounce Lead like "leed" as in leading lady.

I am sure that the name comes from the mineral. Must have been a disappointment to find lead, instead of gold.

We also were a bit disappointed by Lead and Deadwood, there was one nice part of the brick-paved Main Street, but even that was not very authentic, but touristy and every second establishment was a casino.

We did not meet Wild Bill Hickok, but saw  Sweeney's Silver Dollar Saloon in which he was killed by Jack McCall, on the second day of August  1876. Hickok was playing poker and he held a pair of eights and a pair of Aces, this since then has been known as "the dead man's hand".

US 14A took us to another wild place, wild for at least one week each August, when hundreds of thousands of motorcyclist congregate in and around Sturgis, SD for the big rally.

On a cold April noon, the town was less than lively, we did not see even one rider and most of the T-shirt shops were closed.

Back via I-90 E to Rapid City and Keystone.

2006-04-26 Wednesday           (click for Black Hill Picture Gallery)

Keystone, SD

The night was not as cold as the two previous ones, most of the snow was gone and a beautiful sun warmed the earth.

Took to the back roads of the Black Hills again to go south into Custer SP.

Wanted to go up to the highest car accessible overlook at Mt. Coolidge (elevation 6003 ft). Unfortunately the road to the lookout was closed. There was a nice lookout spot below with good vistas over to Rapid City. Saw a lot of wildlife, mostly deer on the drive

Once again, it was pure pleasure to drive the empty roads of the Black Hills. Spring and Fall must be the best time here, would not want to be around when all the millions of "Tourists" are clogging these hills and dales.

Later on went down to Rapid City to have an oil change on the Van.

Had another visit from the 7+ dwarfs while I was grilling pork chops. They seemed to be attracted by the smell, at least they were curious.

This is our last day here. Tomorrow we will drive to Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming, about 150 miles away. If we are lucky, the mother ship will still be there, or at least come back again.

2006-04-27 Thursday

Keystone, SD to Miles City, MO via Devils Tower, WY  320 miles 8:30 hours

Left Battle Creek CG at 09:00. Drove down to Rapid City and picked up I-90 W towards Wyoming. At Sundance we left the Interstate and took US 14 and WY 24 towards Devils Tower National Monument.

Our impressions about Devils Tower so far had been formed by Spielberg's movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".

The reality is different, somehow more imposing in some respects, in others it is less than the movie version. For instance, from afar, the Tower is not as imposing, it is part of a very imposing landscape and the craggy escarpments of the Belle Fourche River are a major counterpoint to the tower.

The small visitor center is not very inspiring, but the view of the tower from the parking lot is, especially on a day as today, when ominous clouds are casting their shadows. The skree field on the base of the tower is much smaller than depicted in the movie and there is definitely no large flat landing spot for the "Mothership" around the monument.

We had initially intended to camp at the Monument's Belle Fourche River CG, but the sites are small, most would not accommodate our rigs combined 45 ft length, many sites were very uneven. No facilities available. 6.00 USD/night did not seem to be a good deal.

So we decided to motor on north into Montana. Very pretty open range country. The roads are mostly in shallow valleys with buttes and escarpments towering over the traveler. The weather was nice, with the typical Montana " Big Sky" feeling.

Finally wound up for the night in the Big Sky CG in Miles City, MO on I-94.

2006-04-28 Friday

Miles City, MT to Billings, MT via Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

Was a quiet night, the train Horn was only in the distance. After an early start we took I-94 W for about 50 miles and then went south on MT 39 to Colstrip and Lame Deer.

Colstrip somehow is missing an "a" in its name, as it is the center of a large coal strip mining operation with a big power station right outside of this company town. Western Energy Company is a apparently a big greenhouse gas producer, apart from producing electricity.

Lame Deer is on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation and we drove west on US 212 toward the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

We drove Battlefield Road all the way to the end and started back the 5 miles that Custer had ridden towards his last stand.

The spot where Captain Reno crossed the Little Bighorn River, the Indian village would be behind the trees in the background

The serenity of the place is astounding, despite modern I-90 always being visible in the distance, the presence of the ghosts of the Indian warriors and the horsemen of the
7th US Cavalry is palpable.

Especially the simple white granite markers, denoting a fallen soldier, as they march up Last Stand Hill are very poignant.

The Visitor Center has a good selection of artifacts from the battle, my only complaint would be that Custer's non-capabilities as a vainglorious and egotistical leader are glossed over, IMO he had no understanding into what situation he was leading his men and had no appreciation of the fighting capabilities of the assembled Indian tribes.

After lunch in Hardin, checked out two CGs, but found none to our liking, so we went on to Billings.

Elaine and I had been together for a month now and had been on the road since 5 April. During that time it became obvious that there were things in each of us, that the other person had a hard time accepting. We tried for a while to work out some issues, but finally decided that being together would not work in the long run.

Elaine flew back from Billings to Boston and I proceeded toward Alaska.

One of the contributing factors was, that I conceptualized the rig for a single person and by doubling the occupancy, space problems arose, which lead to friction.

Back in SeaWind, Thomas and I idly had discussed RV space requirements and he gave me the advice: Never fulltime as a couple in anything smaller than 28 feet.

2006-04-30 Sunday

Billings, MT to James Kipp Recreation Area  150 miles 4 hours

Broke camp at 09:00 and drove MT 87 N towards Roundup and Grass Range, then MT 19 and MT 191 to the BLM CG (James Kipp Recreation Area) in the Charles M Russell NWR along the upper Missouri River.

For Google Earth users and those with any map program

CG coordinates

N 47.62719 W 108.68592  Elevation 2264 ft ASL.

Malta, MT on US 2 is the nearest sizeable town to the CG 70 miles to the NE.

Big Sky Country - 34 miles of straight road across the rolling terrain

Down into the Missouri valley

Missouri River, looking upstream (west)

The CG is BLM operated, so my Golden Age Pass gives me half off the fee. So, for 3.00 USD I have a nice level camp site with no immediate neighbors. There may be two other campers in the CG after the "weekend crowd" (maybe half a dozen) had left.

The little red Honda Generator is running and the wind has picked up. A bit of rain is falling, but I am cozy in my shell, creating my web pages offline.

The CG has no WiFi, no hook-ups, my Verizon cell phone has no signal, there are no flush toilets, only pit toilets. Nature pure - and I am happy.

Rain stopped and I went outside, and, remembering the skills I learned as a Boy Scout, many, many moons ago, I tried to start a 1-match fire - and succeeded.

The BLM thoughtfully provides fire wood to each camp site, there is a very solidly built fire ring with a moveable grill on top. The wood was already split and very dry, I only had to get out the old camp axe and split off some kindling. I was sheltered from the wind and could sit outside next to the warming fire and I started reading Russell Means' autobiography.

The sun went down behind the southern bluffs of the Missouri at about 20:15 and I went inside, had a small libation, brushed my teeth, said my prayers and went to bed, where I fell soundly asleep within minutes.

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